Sara Cordeiro, Ph.D.: ‘I am interested in new manufacturing methodologies for controlled drug delivery systems, such as 3D printing and microfluidics, to solve global challenges in medicine’
Science careers of CiMUS graduates
This is the commitment of Sara Cordeiro, who was a CiMUS pre-doctoral researcher in María José Alonso's laboratory and currently coordinates her own group at the Leicester School of Pharmacy (De Montfort University), focused on improving and facilitating the lives of patients through the development of drug and vaccine delivery systems that are easy to manufacture and scale, highly efficient and administered by non-invasive means. This USC centre was his gateway to this field around which his professional career revolves and in which he considers it essential to never lose his curiosity and resilience in order to continue advancing in his scientific career.
What is the focus of your current (and recent) work in the UK (De Montfort University and QUB)?
After completing my PhD thesis at USC, I moved to Queen's University Belfast (QUB) in November 2017 as a postdoctoral researcher, to work under the supervision of Professor Ryan Donnelly on a project focused on the use of microneedles in the treatment of a very common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma. In this project, we focused on incorporating gold nanoparticles into microneedle patches so that, when irradiated with a particular laser, the particles would absorb that light (and its energy) and transform it into heat, leading to the death of tumour cells. In addition, there at QUB I also had the opportunity to participate in other projects related to the use of microneedles for transdermal drug delivery.
Since January 2021, I have established my own research group at the Leicester School of Pharmacy (De Montfort University), where I am Senior Lecturer in Pharmaceutical Sciences. Here our group (3Ds - Drug Delivery and Diagnostics) focuses on improving and facilitating patients' lives through the development of drug and vaccine delivery systems that are easy to manufacture and scale, highly efficient and delivered by non-invasive routes. I am interested in applications of nanotechnology to solve global challenges in medicine, as well as in new manufacturing methodologies for controlled drug delivery systems, such as 3D printing and microfluidics.
What has your time (and extensive stop) at CiMUS, your training at the USC and working alongside leading figures such as María José Alonso brought you?
Doing my doctoral thesis at the USC and under the supervision of Prof. María José Alonso has been an absolutely transformative stage in my life. Six unforgettable years! It is not the most typical thing in a doctoral thesis, but it has been my experience and a consequence of how the circumstances have developed. I have learned a lot not only about pharmaceutical sciences in particular, but also about myself, the academic world and the future I wanted to develop for my career. María José is a person with an absolutely impressive career, and an impact on the field of controlled drug release that is undeniable and admirable. Working under her supervision has opened the door to a worldwide community of researchers that I still maintain today, especially through the Controlled Release Society, and that has marked my career in a very positive way, without a doubt. On a scientific level, I would highlight the importance of questioning absolutely everything and of always understanding why we do a certain experiment or use a certain technique, points that María José always emphasised and which to this day mark my way of being a researcher. In relation to CiMUS, I had the opportunity to experience the transfer of María José's group to the building and to inaugurate the laboratories for the first time in 2012. It was a great qualitative leap in relation to the space where we were before! I believe that this type of infrastructure is essential to encourage collaboration between the various research groups at the USC, as the proximity has allowed us to share equipment, experiences and ideas, even just through meetings and conversations in the corridor.
Are nanomedicine and drug delivery systems the revolution in the current fight against diseases, particularly those of high prevalence such as cancer?
In my opinion, the last decades of research have demonstrated the great potential of nanomedicine in the treatment and prevention of high-impact diseases, as seen in the development of vaccines against COVID-19, or in the case of some liposome formulations already available on the market several years ago for the treatment of certain types of cancer. The translation of these innovations to the clinic is not always as rapid as we would like, but they can certainly represent a revolution in the way we approach the treatment of some diseases.
Nanotechnologies for the design of innovative nanomedicines, advantages?
Nanosystems have a number of advantages over other systems for controlled drug release. They are generally organ-, tissue- or even cell-targeted vehicles, reducing the risk of side effects caused by the drug, and in some cases allowing a reduction in the dose needed to obtain a therapeutic effect. Their versatility allows them to be ‘tailored’ for different applications, and their small size allows them to be loaded with large amounts of drug. In addition, several researchers have already demonstrated that these systems can be incorporated into pharmaceutical forms for different routes of administration such as nasal, transdermal or oral, which facilitates the acceptance of these drugs by the population, in particular by younger and older patients (paediatric and geriatric populations).
What do you think of the application of ICT (AI) in medicine?
Without being an expert in the field, I look forward with great anticipation to the advances of these technologies in our field of research. I believe there is a great opportunity to optimise the work of researchers through the use of artificial intelligence for the processing and analysis of large amounts of information. It seems to me that AI will allow researchers to spend more time thinking (which is not easy), generating ideas and planning projects, rather than spending that time on repetitive tasks related to data collection, processing and analysis.
What advice would you give to young researchers who aspire to project their careers?
I think the two most important things to develop when you want to have a scientific career are curiosity and resilience. Research is a long-distance race, and sometimes it can be extremely hard. In my opinion, it is essential to maintain curiosity and passion for science in everything we do, because only then will we continue to be excited by a new idea, interested in new scientific work, and motivated to start again after a failed experiment. Likewise, I do not believe that it is possible to make progress in research without developing, working on and maintaining a considerable level of resilience. Unfortunately there is a great deal of rejection and frustration in science, and it is important to learn to pick ourselves up every time things don't go well (or as we had hoped). Believing in our effort and work, and always remembering ‘why’ we are in this career, for me are essential aspects of the path and what has helped me the most to live through the good and bad times. I would also tell young researchers not to be afraid to try, to step out of their comfort zone, to experience work opportunities that may take them a bit far from home. I say this because nothing is forever, and we can always go back to the places where we have been happy, but opportunities may not come again, so take them when they come!
What is talent for you, and do you think it is being taken care of in the scientific field, in Galicia, Spain, Europe...?
Talent is a rather abstract concept, especially in science. I think that unfortunately the current education system in many countries (as is the case in Spain) does not nurture or motivate curiosity or creativity, which are fundamental in science. Therefore, I believe that there is a lot of research talent probably hidden in a system that ‘formats’ all students by the same template. Society probably associates scientific talent with the ‘geniuses’ we see winning the big prizes, but I think there is also a lot of talent in the huge number of people who keep the day-to-day running of scientific research. That is why I believe that in order to nurture research talent we need to have a broad vision of the training and development of these researchers, rethink and reform the education system (not just the university system), and above all understand that adequate funding for research and innovation is of inestimable value to a country's development. The priorities of a country can be well understood by simply analysing the investment made in education, research, innovation, etc. All these fields bring economic and social growth and stability, even if many governments (across the political spectrum) continue to fail to recognise this or to act in accordance with this reality. Clearly great progress has been made, but there is still a long way to go before we can say that (even in Europe) scientific talent is cared for.